2019 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

Thank you for the picture Laura, I love the boots - and that really is thrifty! I'm saving up for a pair of Fly boots, annoyingly the price on Amazon has just gone up from £55 to £85 so I'm going to have to wait for it to come down - but you're making me think that they will probably be a good investment. Not as good as yours, you must have had great foresight and taste at 15!

I think I jut loved the boots, rathr than any foresight involved1

The thing to look for, if planning on wearing boots for years, is whether or not they can b re-soled and re-heeled.

Most - really, a huge majority, maybe 85% - of modern boots are made with what they call a cast monoblock base, which means the sole and heel, the whole underfoot, is cast in one piece of synthetic material. Even a Proper Cobbler can't do anything with those. Once the soles wear thin and the heels wear down, that's it, throw your boots away.
The other problem to watch for is hollow heels - these are fixed to the boot during manufacture in a way that cannot be replicated later on; so if your boots have heels, they may still be unrepairable if a heel comes loose (traditional, properly-made boots have heels attached from on top, through the inside of the boot where your foot goes, so they can be re-attached like mine just were). The hollow ones can only ever be glued as a repair which won't take the stresses a boot-heel, even a chunky one, is subject to. A solid heel is both nailed and glued, and that makes it repairable.

So look at the sole and heel and see if they are separate bits, and tap the heel to see if it's hollow!

Otherwise, no matter how good the leather uppers, you just won't be able to have them re-soled or re-heeled or repaired...

maddiemay

Love your boots Laura, hope that you had a good meet up and look around Shrewsbury. Last time I visited Ewe and Ply were closed, but no bad things as I really should not be adding to the yarn stash as my productivity (R Arthritis) is woeful.

I bought a nice black and white smart skirt from CS so no coupons used and having had a dry day at last can report that my Sk*tchers sandals are truly trouncy bouncy and so comfortable.

PipneyJane

keepcalmandcraft wrote: »

PipneyJane, could you get to Northamptonshire easily? Doc Marten has a factory shop at Wollaston and the prices are really good.

Ooooohhhhhh!!!!!

It's do-able (1.5hrs by car), I'll just have to figure out an excuse. :rotfl: Maybe a morning shopping and the afternoon at Bletchley Park?

Naturally, it's at the other end of the county from the bit I used to drive through when I was working out in Oxfordshire, Aynho, so I can't arrange a meeting and "pop to the shops" on my way home. Pity. (I did that once when I was regularly working in Worcester and suffered non-buyer's remorse over a book I'd seen in Hay-on-Wye. Drove for an hour out of my way, then sprinted from bookshop to bookshop until I found the one it was in. All because of this knitting pattern that kept haunting me....



- Pip


ETA: Yes, I made the jumper. Here's a shot of me wearing it in that very same bookshop.

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere wrote: »

I think I jut loved the boots, rathr than any foresight involved1

The thing to look for, if planning on wearing boots for years, is whether or not they can b re-soled and re-heeled.

Most - really, a huge majority, maybe 85% - of modern boots are made with what they call a cast monoblock base, which means the sole and heel, the whole underfoot, is cast in one piece of synthetic material. Even a Proper Cobbler can't do anything with those. Once the soles wear thin and the heels wear down, that's it, throw your boots away.
The other problem to watch for is hollow heels - these are fixed to the boot during manufacture in a way that cannot be replicated later on; so if your boots have heels, they may still be unrepairable if a heel comes loose (traditional, properly-made boots have heels attached from on top, through the inside of the boot where your foot goes, so they can be re-attached like mine just were). The hollow ones can only ever be glued as a repair which won't take the stresses a boot-heel, even a chunky one, is subject to. A solid heel is both nailed and glued, and that makes it repairable.

So look at the sole and heel and see if they are separate bits, and tap the heel to see if it's hollow!

Otherwise, no matter how good the leather uppers, you just won't be able to have them re-soled or re-heeled or repaired...

Agreed. Particularly re hollow heels which is why I bolded that part of your post. I had a pair of boots similar in style to yours, back in the 1990's. Wore them for a couple of winters and was then heartbroken when I discovered the heels couldn't be repaired.

- Pip

PollyWollyDoodle

That's a good point, and I'm thinking again about the boots I've had my eye on because they have a mono bloc sole. After all, I don't want to waste those coupons, do I!

Interesting article on the BBC about fast fashion and why buying secondhand is good
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48682493

Laura_Elsewhere

I'm getting a bit more organised - I was tackling the Unsorted Stuff in the tiny flat's sitting-room, and found a 1.5m piece of 150cm-width fabric - so now it's most of the way to being a new top

But now I'm settling down for the evening with three pieces of 12" or 15" cotton that I've been given over the years as FQs that I've been meaning to put plain hems on and turn into colourful hankies for ages!

No coupons when people send you unsolicited bundles of FQs on the assumption that "you sew, so I knew you'd love these" - er no, mostly not, actually... the ones I really dislike (the highly stylised 1960s-style graphic prints of plants and birds that many people adore) are going to be wax-and-jojoba-impregnated food-wraps for Xmas presents to family... but some that I really like are becoming hankies for me!

CAFCGirl

Hello All,

I've been a bit MIA with medical nonsense and results gubbins.
Ignoring it all since there's nothing I can do and it's in the hands of the Gods - read the NHS LOL

Positive notes, a lovely Aztec to paisley style dress purchased, and a lovely Moroccan tile print Kimono - second hand so coupon free, and 500g of illusions Dk will second hand too.
The wool is currently being used two strand on my small gauge loom and will be an infinity scarf for winter. It's black with a strand of hombre teal, blue, green through it. Will be a little injection of colour of I'm going sleek in black.

My lap blanket for my sister is finished too and I'm really pleased with how that came out, especially the border. Break from larger pieces needed now, hence the scarf.

thriftwizard

You all put me to shame - all this ice-cream-making, bread-based baking & learning how to do sourdough well, and my fabric & fibre stash, sewing machines & looms are getting very lonesome! Silly really; for a while I couldn't sit or lean forward for any length of time but that's behind me now. Mind you, the garden & allotment are also taking up some of my time, being technically summer.

I found a smashing pair of boots at the recyclers a couple of weeks ago. Leather, good soles & (low) heels, even possibly stylish, in an austere kind of way - according to the DDs I can't be trusted in these matters, but my 16 y.o. god-daughter was with me at the time & agreed - so I coughed up my 50p on the offchance that one or other of the girls would like them. (The boots & both girls being size 7, the god-daughter an 8 & myself a 6.) DD2 has worn them virtually every day since, and tells me they'd have been well over £100 originally. Strange - and rather worrying - what people throw out; they'd had hardly any wear.

Laura_Elsewhere

thriftwizard wrote: »

for a while I couldn't sit or lean forward for any length of time but that's behind me now..

Well, if leaning forward was all behind you, no wonder you had problems!

Joking apart, glad you're on the mend and welcome back to the world of being able to move about without pain or hindrance (or without as much).

And congrats on the boots - I bet DD is pleased!

And also - CAFCgirl, hope your medical things are being eased, improved and generally sorted too!

I'm sock-knitting this morning - it's grey and cold out there. Hard to believe it's about to be a heatwave!

CAFCGirl

Many thanks Laura - unfortunately not, it's a put up and shut up for life type affair.

In other news, my lovely friend, who I met over 9 years ago from MSE, set me a gift of Caron Big Cakes yarn in Blueberry Torte colours and I love it!!! I'm thinking I may attempt a hacked \levelled up version of my blanket cardigan.

Our final remaining chicken passed away so the coop has been dismantled and being gifted to another friend who sews wonderful funky stuff and she is making me some pants! Happy about that for sure!